New York Times columnist Tom Friedman's extended interview with President Obama shed some light on how Obama can be well-informed, thoughtful, prudent -- yet still be seen as faltering as a foreign policy president. If you compare Obama with George W. Bush (okay -- a low bar), Obama wins, hands down. Unlike Bush, Obama inhabits the reality-based foreign policy space, with no apologies. Unlike Bush, he has no messianic zealots among his advisers. He gives the kind of well-considered responses that suggest a president who carefully engages with truly difficult policy conundrums. Yet at the end of the day, he often comes across as vacillating and indecisive -- an impression that can be fatal in his dealings with allies, adversaries, and of course electorates.

Some analysts have argued that Jordan may be the next target of this radical Sunni militant group. This may be the case, but it will likely have limited impact and could even present Jordan with an opportunity to strengthen its strategic position.

The fatwa is not about revenge or attack but the need to defend religious freedoms, sacred places and land from those whose aim is remove peaceful Muslims' freedoms to believe in Islam as they currently do, remove their shrines and to remove them from their lands.

U.S. concerns with the formation and subsequent actions of the Islamic Front, combined with the continued prominence of al-Qaeda linked factions in Syria, are likely to further diminish international pressure on the Assad regime, providing it with a golden opportunity to seek renewed legitimacy.

The British magazine, New Statesman , recently reminisced about its former editor Kingsley Martin's feud with Tribune's former literary editor George Orwell about the latter's attempt to tell the whole truth about the Spanish War.

Extremism can have the appearance of populism, but rarely the numbers. It can be a blinding thought process that takes advantage of the disadvantaged, and is controlled by narrow minded leaders who are resolute in their mission

With the growing difficulty to prevent radicalization and rehabilitate militants, there is a lot more that needs to be done by parents, imams, scholars, teachers and the entire society to promote the message of mercy and compassion.